words at work by lynda mcdaniel

Speed has turned our writing to mush. It’s easy to blame all the dandy devices that allow us— even encourage us—to dash
off whatever is on our minds. But in
the end we’re still in control of how we
choose to express ourselves.

In today’s busy offices, the mantra
“Keep it short” makes sense—if that
gets the job done. But too often speed
and brevity produce vanilla content
when we need dark chocolate words to
grab our readers and get the results we
need.

Let’s consider a new mantra: “Write
as short as possible and as long as necessary.” Sure, we need to get to the point
quickly. But a short memo or report
cannot resolve complex issues. In fact,
brief content can cause more problems
than it solves, leading to even more
back-and-forth communications.

Instead of focusing on brief, think
specific. Writing clear, specific content cuts down on confusion, which
cuts down on clarifying communications, which produces the best kind of
brevity—fewer emails! Like the sales
maxim “Confused buyers don’t buy,”
well, confused readers don’t read. They
move on to something clearer and
more interesting.

So how can you get more specific to
enjoy better results? Follow these six
tips:

1.Cut your pronoun usagein half

John paid a call on the manager the
day after he returned from Berlin.

See how confusing pronouns can
be? Who returned from Berlin—John
or the manager? Instead, get more
specific:

John paid a call on the manager, Jamie
Smith, the day after Smith returned
from Berlin.

Here’s another example:

I’ve attached two reports and two
invoices for the photocopies. I had them
printed online. If other instructors need
to make them, I recommend them.

Get specificto get results

Six tips for producing clear, compelling—and concise—content

Too often speed and
brevity produce vanilla
content when we need
dark chocolate words
to grab our readers
and get the results
we need.